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Prairie Days
Twenty essays discuss the beauty of nature, rural Minnesota life, the author's heritage, the seasons, and religion
99 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1987
6 people want to read
About the author
Bill Holm
55 books31 followersBill Holm was an American poet, essayist, memoirist, and musician.
Holm was born on a farm north of Minneota, Minnesota, the grandson of Icelandic immigrants. He attended Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota where he graduated in 1965. Later, he attended the University of Kansas.
Holm won a Fulbright and went to Iceland for a year, which stretched into longer. He continued to visit Iceland so regularly that his friends there helped him find a house in Hofsós. His last book, The Windows of Brimnes, is about his time in Iceland.
He was Professor Emeritus of English at Southwest Minnesota State University, where he taught classes on poetry and literature until his retirement in 2007. Though Minneota was his home, Holm had traveled the world, teaching English in China, spending summers in Iceland and late winters in Arizona, and visiting Europe and Madagascar.
Holm was a frequent guest on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion radio show and some of his poems were included in Keillor's Writer's Almanac.
Holm was a McKnight Distinguished Artist in 2008, an award that honors Minnesota artists for their life work.
Holm was born on a farm north of Minneota, Minnesota, the grandson of Icelandic immigrants. He attended Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota where he graduated in 1965. Later, he attended the University of Kansas.
Holm won a Fulbright and went to Iceland for a year, which stretched into longer. He continued to visit Iceland so regularly that his friends there helped him find a house in Hofsós. His last book, The Windows of Brimnes, is about his time in Iceland.
He was Professor Emeritus of English at Southwest Minnesota State University, where he taught classes on poetry and literature until his retirement in 2007. Though Minneota was his home, Holm had traveled the world, teaching English in China, spending summers in Iceland and late winters in Arizona, and visiting Europe and Madagascar.
Holm was a frequent guest on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion radio show and some of his poems were included in Keillor's Writer's Almanac.
Holm was a McKnight Distinguished Artist in 2008, an award that honors Minnesota artists for their life work.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 10, 2019
Just finished this book from one of my favorite authors, Bill Holm, who has a way with words that is so sharp and witty and quintessentially “Midwest” and more specifically “Minnesotan”. The book is a selection of short essays - often just two to four pages long - that capture the essence of living in and being influenced by one’s upbringing in rural and small town southwestern Minnesota. His thinking is often quirkily abstract and his humor is as dry as the desert. Here are some notable lines from the book:
“It is always strange to read other people’s mail, even if they are dead.”
“I have changed very little except that I am getting gray, and so damned old that I have begun to wear suspenders again, but have not yet taken to golf. I reckon that will be the next step.”
“At fifteen, I could define failure fast: to die in Minneota, Minnesota.”
“I live here now and plan to always, wherever I am.”
The last quote for me demonstrates how the simplest thoughts with the slightest twist can often be the most profound. In one essay he introduces the concept of the prairie eye vs the forest eye, the latter being whimsical and creative while the former is painstaking and exact and no nonsense. He then provides humorous examples and talks of how one time driving through the north Minnesota woods (a place where most here enjoy going for vacation) he was feeling suffocated and trapped and felt a huge sense of relief and liberation once he reached the endless stretches of the prairies. He describes them as a place one can’t fully absorb in a quick glance, being lengthy and needing time to fully appreciate. He also talks of his Icelandic immigrant heritage and of the concept of failure as the inadvertent success in the scheme of things. It’s a quick read - only 99 pages with a number of very bleak, banal imagery that has a beauty of its own, much like the prairie landscape I would imagine him explaining. It’s enjoyable relatively light reading if you’re needing a break between heavy novels or texts. If you liked the Prairie Home Companion show as I did, you would likely enjoy this book as well.
“It is always strange to read other people’s mail, even if they are dead.”
“I have changed very little except that I am getting gray, and so damned old that I have begun to wear suspenders again, but have not yet taken to golf. I reckon that will be the next step.”
“At fifteen, I could define failure fast: to die in Minneota, Minnesota.”
“I live here now and plan to always, wherever I am.”
The last quote for me demonstrates how the simplest thoughts with the slightest twist can often be the most profound. In one essay he introduces the concept of the prairie eye vs the forest eye, the latter being whimsical and creative while the former is painstaking and exact and no nonsense. He then provides humorous examples and talks of how one time driving through the north Minnesota woods (a place where most here enjoy going for vacation) he was feeling suffocated and trapped and felt a huge sense of relief and liberation once he reached the endless stretches of the prairies. He describes them as a place one can’t fully absorb in a quick glance, being lengthy and needing time to fully appreciate. He also talks of his Icelandic immigrant heritage and of the concept of failure as the inadvertent success in the scheme of things. It’s a quick read - only 99 pages with a number of very bleak, banal imagery that has a beauty of its own, much like the prairie landscape I would imagine him explaining. It’s enjoyable relatively light reading if you’re needing a break between heavy novels or texts. If you liked the Prairie Home Companion show as I did, you would likely enjoy this book as well.
Displaying 1 of 1 review